Nelegalus akcizinių prekių importas ir jo įtaka Lietuvos biudžetui
Illegal import of excise goods and influence to the budget of Lithuania

Summary/Abstract: This article overviews the illegal import of excise goods, such as alcohol, cigarettes, petrol and diesel from third-part countries: Russia and Belarus, and evaluates the influence of it to the budget of Lithuania. The answers were given, why contraband is spread in Lithuania, and what are the regions of the highest concentration. Also contrabandist groups were mentioned and special features were given of those people, who are making their living of illegal import and reselling contraband goods. The structure of fuel price was given and the influence of VAT and excise duty was shown to the net price as well. The loss of the budget was estimated by preliminary counting and main streams for problem solving were given. This research showed that main regions of contraband are at the borderline of Lithuania, Russia and Belarus. Most of the contrabandists are those who are not studying are unemployed or working part-time job, retired or feeling lack of money to make their living. At those regions the level of unemployment is higher than in other parts of the country, and the level of education is lower, but nevertheless the amount of newly registered cars is higher than in other districts of Lithuania and the number of cars per person is higher as well. The excise duty for petrol is 21% more than required minimum of European Union specifications, while the excise duty for diesel is preferred minimized by 8,5%. After evaluating the influence of VAT and excise duty for the price of fuel, the fact was revealed, that the most significant part of the price is the cost of raw oil, which is refined in Mažeikiai oil refinery factory. Then, depending on the price of raw oil, the taxes are counted, which becomes more than 90 % of the net fuel price. The mark-up of the petrol stations are varying only from 6 to 8 percent of the net price. After estimating the number of people that might be making their living of illegal import, the number of 10000 persons was set. According to this number, the counting showed that the loss for the budget because of illegally imported fuel is about 312 million litas per year. The loss because of illegally imported cigarettes is about 509 million litas per year, and after assessing VAT and other taxes, the total sum of loss can be more than 1 billion litas per year. One of the solutions and actions to crack contraband problems would be to minimize the level of corruption as much as possible. It can be reached by paying bonus money for arrested value of contraband goods. The other solutions how to use forfeited goods were suggested: to make biological manure out of cigarettes instead of burning them; and make chemical products of alcohol, like screen wash, antifreeze and so on. In order to make fuel prices lower, two methods were suggested. The first one for the petrol: to minimize the excise duty down to the minimum level that is required by European Union, which would help to lower the petrol price by 10%, and the second one – for diesel: to apply preferred VAT, which would be 15%. It would help to lower diesel price by 6,5 %. All these actions would help to collect more money to budget and would be a good prevention for the contraband. The government is planning to limit the number of border passing times for cars down to 5 times per month. If they want this to work, they should limit the border passing times for people to the same level as well. Economic crimes and contraband is hindering to foresee and implement economical plans, it disturbs proportions of manufacturing, price and consumptions, it boosts the level of inflation and influences the production of low quality products. The citizens are not relying on the government and governmental institutions, and the negative attitude is formed against them and juridical institutions, because they cannot see any prospects of future actions and decisions.

• Details
• Contents